Self-Care Isn't Selfish
First Presenter's Institution
The Healhty Teacher
First Presenter's Brief Biography
Lauren is from Fayetteville, NC, where she became known for her athletic talents. She was recruited by Western Carolina University for softball and set numerous records while there. As a college athlete, Lauren gained professional advice in speed and agility, and muscle recovery. In 2012, Lauren moved to Anderson, SC, and became a personal trainer and hitting instructor, studying under Mr. USA 1988 for three years. During that time, Lauren competed in the SNBF Natural Bodybuilding competition within the figure category and, as a Novice, won 5th place. Not long after, she took her love for teaching and taught at Barnes Academy as the PE and Music teacher. In 2016, Lauren felt led to go into personal training full-time and opened Freedom Fitness Personal Training, LLC. In November 2016, Lauren joined forces with her best friend and business partner, Raegan McCullough. After working one on one with countless educators, Lauren and Raegan noticed so many of them were running themselves into the ground trying to care for their students, co-workers, and family members. Even though the educator's intentions were noble, they were trying to care for other people at the expense of their own health, and it was draining them in every way. Lauren began implementing basic fundamentals of mental and emotional health, along with the physical health principles she was already offering, and saw drastic changes in most of the educators she worked with. Some came off of medications, while others regained control of their physical and emotional health. After seeing so many educators with the same issues, she and Raegan began creating "The Healthy Teacher" (THT). THT is a one-stop shop for all things health and fitness. The program incorporates mental health, emotional health, fitness, and nutrition. THT is a program specified to and solely for educators. THT was launched in 2019, and since then, the program has helped thousands of educators and is currently in 13 states. Lauren has a passion for helping teachers live lives of fullness. Being a former educator, she understands the importance of healthy teachers. She believes healthy teachers create healthy students. Lao Tzu said it best, “To care for the teacher is to love the learner.”
Second Presenter's Institution
The Healthy Teacher
Second Presenter’s Email Address
TheHealthyTeacher2018@gmail.com
Second Presenter's Brief Biography
Raegan McCullough was raised in Iva, SC, by two educators- a former guidance counselor and a principal. Being from a small town, she had a large family, of which 19 people worked in the field of education. In 2010, Raegan's father passed away due to a heart attack. At the young age of 16, Raegan knew she wanted to continue in her father's footsteps and somehow work within the field of Education. She decided to teach a different subject, the subject of health and nutrition. Raegan enrolled at Clemson University in Food Science and Nutrition. While there, she expanded her studies in Secondary Education and Communication Studies. After graduating, Raegan joined Lauren Ross under Freedom Fitness Personal Training LLC. After training several educators, Raegan was able to look back and realize just how stressed her parents and family members within the educational field had been. Lauren and Raegan wanted to create something special and exciting just for them. Thus, The Healthy Teacher (THT) was born. Since 2018, Raegan and Lauren have perfected THT to be what it is today. They are now in 12 states and have worked with thousands of educators. Raegan's dream is to travel the world, speaking to educators on the importance of self-care and being proactive. Just this summer, Raegan developed a second business, DMAffirmations, in memory of her father that uses QR codes to make each person a walking affirmation. Affirming each step with the belief every person is worthy.
Document Type
Event
Primary Strand
Mindfulness and Wellbeing
Relevance to Primary Strand
You wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t desire to see students succeed. We share the same passion for students, but understand that in order to give students their best chance at success, educators have to make sure they are living healthy lives. We want to offer a different perspective on what it means and looks like to have a healthy education system.Our presentation will hone in on educators and admin leaders, opening their eyes to the importance of "self-care" and the simple wellness practices that can drastically change the way they teach, lead and live. "Self-care" has been a term thrown around a lot lately. Not only are practicalities rarely given, but the definition is self-care has been altered and misunderstood. Our presentation redefines self-care, explains the root issues that cause educators to ignore self-care, and the proven benefits of regular self-care practices.
Alignment with School Improvement Plan Topics
Leadership / Development
Brief Program Description
Our presentation will hone in on educators, opening their eyes to the importance of "self-care" and simple wellness practices.”Self-care" has been thrown around a lot lately; however, practicalities are rarely given, and the definition has been misunderstood. Our presentation redefines self-care, explains the root issues that cause educators to ignore self-care, and the proven benefits of regular self-care practices.
Summary
”Self-care” has been a term thrown around a lot lately. Not only are practicalities rarely given, but the definition is self-care has been altered and misunderstood. Our presentation redefines self-care and offers a new perspective on what it looks like for educators. We explain the root issues that cause educators to ignore self-care and the proven benefits of regular self-care practices. Working with educators from over twelve states, we’ve seen the same primary issue: educators and administrators tend to believe self-care is selfish. This creates an environment of “burnout” and the inability to provide our best to students. Practicing self-care is one of the least selfish things we can do. It is from a place of strength and social-emotional growth that we can pour from an overflowing cup. Our session uses engaging slides, activities, and humor to offer simple yet vital self-care methods that can be implemented starting that day. While we cover the importance of mental health, nutrition, movement, and rest, you become empowered with the skills, knowledge, and resources needed to effectively reduce stress and anxiety during the school year. Every educator desires success in the classroom, and consistently utilizing self-care practices can help make that happen. We ensure you understand precisely what self-care means and how it is the foundation for giving students their best chance at success
Evidence
While most of the research we have is fairly recent, there is no denying the importance of having and retaining health teachers. Faye McCallum published a book called, "Teacher and Staff Wellbeing: Understanding the Experiences of School Staff" in 2021. Her book references over 70 scholarly articles and studies regarding the correlation between healthy teachers and healthy students/schools.
Having a healthy school correlates to lower absentee rates and higher workplace morale.
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00313831.2012.656281
- https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED555740.pdf
Creating healthy schools and students will mean creating healthy educators.
Learning Objective 1
Redefine "self-care" and learn simple self-care practices that attendees can implement that day.
Learning Objective 2
Learn how to understand stress and make it work for them rather than against them.
Learning Objective 3
Take home tangible self-care practices that attendees can implement in their classrooms.
Recommended Citation
Ross, Lauren and McCullough, Raegan, "Self-Care Isn't Selfish" (2023). Southeast Conference on School Climate. 28.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/secsc/2023/2023/28
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Self-Care Isn't Selfish
”Self-care” has been a term thrown around a lot lately. Not only are practicalities rarely given, but the definition is self-care has been altered and misunderstood. Our presentation redefines self-care and offers a new perspective on what it looks like for educators. We explain the root issues that cause educators to ignore self-care and the proven benefits of regular self-care practices. Working with educators from over twelve states, we’ve seen the same primary issue: educators and administrators tend to believe self-care is selfish. This creates an environment of “burnout” and the inability to provide our best to students. Practicing self-care is one of the least selfish things we can do. It is from a place of strength and social-emotional growth that we can pour from an overflowing cup. Our session uses engaging slides, activities, and humor to offer simple yet vital self-care methods that can be implemented starting that day. While we cover the importance of mental health, nutrition, movement, and rest, you become empowered with the skills, knowledge, and resources needed to effectively reduce stress and anxiety during the school year. Every educator desires success in the classroom, and consistently utilizing self-care practices can help make that happen. We ensure you understand precisely what self-care means and how it is the foundation for giving students their best chance at success
